Democratic Unionists in Northern Ireland become election key

Conservative member of parliament Anna Soubry was the first in the party to disavow May in public, calling on the prime minister to "consider her position". As May struggled to contain the fallout, her two closest aides resigned.

Mrs May's Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn, once written off by his opponents as a no-hoper, said the Prime Minister should step down. But Johnson said he backed May.

She had called the snap election in order to increase the Tories" majority and give herself a mandate to push for a "hard Brexit' in negotiations with the EU.

Gavin Barwell was named new chief of staff.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Conservative Party won 48.9 percent of the vote share while Labour won 40.3 percent in the June 8 general election.

The change was unlikely to significantly quell unrest within the party. He said it was impossible to predict whether she would still be prime minister at the end of the year.

Sinn Fein does not take its seats in the British parliament, with MPs refusing to swear allegiance to the British head of state, Queen Elizabeth II.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the U.K.in which same-sex marriage is illegal.

The turmoil engulfing May has increased the chance that Britain will fall out of the European Union in 2019 without a deal. That could prove hard should Britain exit the customs union, as Mrs May plans.

British politicians, including within May's own party, differ widely on what they want from the Brexit negotiating process.

Britain's snap general election resulted in a hung Parliament in a major blow to Ms May who wanted to boost the Conservatives' majority in Parliament to strengthen her hand in the looming Brexit negotiations.

The British currency lost as much as 3 cents against the dollar late Thursday and early Friday, to fall as low as $1.2636 in Asian trading hours after the final results started trickling in.

Mr Crowther said: "Though she is personally damaged as our negotiator, the suggestion that Mrs May's dismal electoral performance relieves the Government of the need to achieve full Brexit is absolutely unacceptable".

"She's staying, for now", one Conservative Party source told Reuters. "I just don't see how she can continue in any long-term way".

Theresa May, therefore, grossly miscalculated and ended in a worse situation than in what she was before the elections.

The Times newspaper's front page declared that Britain was "effectively leaderless" and the country "all but ungovernable".

The alliance makes some modernizing Conservatives uneasy. The main opposition Labour Party surpassed expectations by winning 262.

Some suggested the prime minister would resign, while others contemplated yet another election later in the year.

Davidson was one of the few Conservative success stories in the election as the Scottish wing of the party won 13 seats. "I think she's got stronger policies", said a 50-year-old woman.

Speaking this evening to the BBC's "Reporting Scotland" programme, she said the Prime Minister had given her assurances there would be no effect on gay rights in the United Kingdom should a government be formed with the DUP.